Tifton, GA |

Recently in Tifton, cotton growers here in Georgia gathered for their annual meeting for a time of fellowship and education, which of course couldn’t come at a better time as growers saw one of the toughest years they’ve ever seen in 2024.

“This is really an opportunity for the industry as a whole, beyond the producer level, even to come together to really, come together and fellowship or, as it turns out, in 2025, maybe commiserate, with this really bad confluence of situations that we have here. Economic, weather, policy, all that have kind of come together and really detrimental to our cotton industry here in Georgia. But also to learn about solutions, how we’re going to improve the situation, what the industry is doing to to move us forward, how we’re going to meet our consumers, how our mills and manufacturer customers, and how we’re going to meet them where they are to move, to move cotton production forward in Georgia in 2025 and beyond,” says Taylor Sills, Executive Director of the Georgia Cotton Commission.

Most of the situation can be attributed to low commodity prices that aren’t covering the costs of their inputs, and unfortunately, according to Extension cotton agronomist, Camp Hand, the situation for 2025 isn’t looking much better.

“It’s the price of cotton and the cost of the inputs. I’d say it cost ninety cents per pound of  cotton to grow the crop, but then you are selling it for right now, today, a December 2025 contract is going for sixty-eight, sixty-nine cents. So you’re twenty cent below the cost of production. That’s serious, and so it’s tough. We’ve been put in some tough situations because the international market is just a different place than it was a few years ago,” says Camp Hand, Extension Cotton Agronomist.

However, according to Hand, even though growers are in a tough spot, the only thing that would make it worse is to not try to grow a good crop, which is why he and other extension experts are there to give growers the tools they need to do so.

“At the end of the day, these growers in Georgia, whether they want to be or not or are married to it. What we want guys to know is that if you put a crop in the ground, you gotta make it, and so we’re trying to give them the tools that they need to make the most out of a bad situation,” says Hand.

Despite the tough economic situation, there is some good news for growers heading into the 2025 season, as extension plant pathologist, Bob Kemerait says that disease pressure growers saw in 2024 shouldn’t be a problem this season, thanks to good, actual winter weather the state has seen.

“Going into 2025, I’m really excited. This cold weather, this snow we’ve had, freezing temperatures; I call it a reset button because what happens with the freezing temperatures is we kill off some of our volunteer cotton, which can bring forward, be a bridge. Also, those cold soil temperatures are going to start to send those nematodes to bed for a while; slow them down, maybe kill some of them, but certainly break their life cycle. So what we’ve had with this cold weather is we are now completely in 2025 season and not bringing 2024 along with us,” says Bob Kemerait, Extension Plant Pathologist.

By: John Holcomb